Desert of the Real
by Davner
Summary: Lina discovers something about herself and the world.


Slayers is the property of Kadokawa Shoten.  
  
Yep, some of my lost Slayers fics!  
  
  
  
Desert of the Real  
  
  
  
Twenty-one year old Lina Inverse examined the book for a few moments and just KNEW it wasn't what she was looking for. Sighing, she climbed up the rickety metal steps again and replaced the book on the library's top shelf.  
  
She lingered there for a few minutes, the portable steps holding her in the air wobbled slightly, but she ignored it, allowing her fingers to trail along the spine's of various books. The sorceress couldn't put a name to what she was looking for, but knew she would know it when she saw it.  
  
She had to.  
  
It had cost her too much to turn out to be nothing.  
  
Thinking this thought made her pause. Two years. Two years had passed since she had said goodbye to Gourry. It hadn't been fair to him. It simply hadn't been fair to ask him to chase a dream with her.  
  
He had been willing, but somehow she knew that this was something she had to do alone. In the end, she had been the one to send him away.  
  
She had heard not long ago that he and Sylphiel had a daughter now…named Lina.  
  
And she hadn't even gone to the wedding.  
  
She had been in Seyruun, searching after the dream that haunted her every night. Something unreal yet vitally important.  
  
Vitally impor…  
  
This thought broke off as the stairs she was standing on suddenly gave way beneath her. She cried out and prepared a levitation spell, but before she could get the word out of her mouth, strong hands had caught her.  
  
"You should be more careful, Lina chan!"  
  
She blinked and looked up at her savior. "Xellos?!"  
  
The Mazoku smiled and placed her on her feet. "Long time no see, ne Lina chan?"  
  
Lina straightened her outfit and took a breath. "Thank you," she said quickly and started back to the table she had commandeered for her research.  
  
"Studying hard or hardly studying?" Xellos quipped.  
  
She didn't bother to look at him. Instead, she opened another book and started thumbing through it, looking for that one DAMN WORD!  
  
Xellos smiled and approached her. "Perhaps I can help," he said unctuously.  
  
Lina snorted and didn't bother to turn. "You? Part with one of your precious secrets? Yeah, that'll happen… And golden dragons might fly out of my a…"  
  
"Language, Lina chan!" Xellos chastised her with a waggle of a finger. "This IS a public library, after all."  
  
Finally, she looked at him. The expression on her face was different than it was the last time he had spoken to her. It was the face of a woman who simply didn't care anymore. "And what would you want for it?" she asked, her arms folded over her chest.  
  
Xellos spread his arms wide and smiled. "Why would I charge you anything? I only want to help."  
  
She rolled her eyes and turned back to her table. "The best scryers in the world have no idea what I'm talking about. Not a single one of the twenty-two Claire Bible manuscripts I've found make any mention of it. The sorcerers at Seyruun are clueless, and even Filia looked at me funny. I'm supposed to believe, A: That you know the answer, and B: That you're willing to tell it to me?" She shook her head. "I'm not that naïve anymore, Xellos. Sorry to disappoint you."  
  
Before she knew what was happening, Xellos had taken her arm and swung her around, enfolding his arms around her in a tight embrace. She was about to protest when she felt his cold breath on her ear.  
  
"I know," he whispered. "I DO know. Why do you think I've bothered with you for the past five years? Why do you think it always comes back to you? Do you honestly believe that the highest ranking Mazoku in the world have nothing better to do than annoy you? We've been watching you…"  
  
"Watching me?" she asked in a whisper.  
  
"Hai, Lina chan," Xellos whispered. "Because the other Mazoku now suspect what I have always known deep in my heart. We watched you because we knew that eventually, the question would come to you."  
  
"The question…"  
  
"Yes," he continued to whisper. Lina didn't care that she was embracing a Mazoku. He had her attention. Period. "The question to which you have no answer. You've been to every scryer you know searching for an answer to a question only you know to ask. A question that haunts you even now. A question I can answer for you…"  
  
Lina swallowed nervously. For some reason, she felt as if her life were at a sudden fork in the road. It came down to this…her question.  
  
Taking an anxious breath, she whispered it to him…  
  
"What is the Matrix?"  
  
  
  
Lina slammed the door to her room shut and screamed. "It's a secret!" she cried, mocking Xellos' voice. "It's a secret!" She screamed again and fell back onto her bed.  
  
She should have known.  
  
Tears formed in her eyes. She had given up her chance at a real life for THIS?  
  
Even so…Xellos' last cryptic words as she torched the library trying to get to him rang in her head.  
  
"'You'll be contacted…'"  
  
She sighed.  
  
There was a knock on the door.  
  
"Scram!" she shouted at it.  
  
Another knock.  
  
Standing up, she sighed again and wiped the tears from her eyes. She walked over to the door and opened it.  
  
A small, red ball was bouncing up and down in front of it. Lina blinked. The ball seemed to notice her presence and started bouncing down the hallway. The redhead watched from the doorway. The ball stopped moving and seemed to wait for her. She sighed and started after it. The red orb started bouncing down the hallway again.  
  
Lina followed the orb down the stairwell and right out the inn's doorway. It was dark out, and the street was empty. The ball bounced out into the street. A second later, a horse driven coach came out of nowhere and stopped in front of her. She blinked as the door opened.  
  
"There's not much time," she heard from the darkness within. "Get in."  
  
She hesitated.  
  
"Xellos said you were ready," the voice, definitely female, elaborated. "Get in."  
  
"Forget it," another voice said. "Drive on."  
  
"Wait!" Lina said quickly. She stepped forward and inside the coach.  
  
"Drive," the second voice repeated as Lina took her seat. The darkness inside the coach was overwhelming and unnatural. She couldn't see the man sitting across from her or the woman sitting next to her.  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
The Matrix belongs to the Wa…the Wa….Okay, they're brothers, and their name starts with W! 


End file.
